Carriage-feeding mechanism for type-writing machines.



PATBNTBD JULY`26, 1904.

J. A. SMITH. CARRIAGE, FEEDING MEGHANISM POR TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION EILED JULY 31, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

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1| z.. ..-.1 -../...uviihnnuwzn- 9999.?9 Y f r l r f x l) l John/A SmifL lng( @Wi/wwwa@ PATENTED JULY 26, 1904.

J. A. SMITH. CARRIAGE PEEDING MECHANISM POR. TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No MODEL.

@Nj-1. bm eo o ce UNITED STATES Patented July 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ASBURY SMITH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIOTT- FISHERCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELA- IVARE.

CARRIAGE-FEEDING NIECHANISIVI FOR TYPE-WRITING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nor-765,861, dated July 26,1904.

Application filed July 31, 1903. Serial No. 167,762. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, JOHN ASBURY SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Carriage- Feeding Mechanism for Type-I/VritingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in carriage-feeding' mechanismfor type-writing machines, and more particularly to an escapementfoi-controlling the step-by-step advance of the carriage in thedirection of letter-spacing. This escapement while capable of generalapplication is designed with special reference to the equipment of aFisher typewriting machine, one form of which is disclosed in Patent No.573,868, to R. J. Fisher. In the Fisher patent is shown an escapement,including a rotary rack or ratchet- Wheel, which necessarily rotates asthe carriage advances and the movement of which is controlled by a pairof pivoted dogs swung from a common center and engaging the wheel atdiametrically opposite points. Upon the depression of any one of thekeys of the typewriting machine the holding or retaining dog, normallyengaging the wheel to prevent the advance of the carriage, is thrownout, and the other or spacing-dog' is simultaneously thrown intoengagement with the wheel. The relative arrangement of the ratchet-teethand dogs is such that upon the release of the key the dogs will be swungback to their initial positions, the ratchet-wheel moving simultaneouslyto permit the advance of the carriage the distance of one letter-space,Where it is held or retained by the engagement of the holding-dog withthe tooth succeeding the one originally engaged by it. Since thedistance advanced by the carriage upon each release thereof depends uponthe distance between the teeth of the ratchet-wheel, it follows that inorder to secure uniform letterspacing the teeth of the wheel must be cutwith absolute accuracy. This, however, is

practically impossible, and while the variationsv of theimmediately-ad]acent teeth are so slight as to be immaterial themultiplication of error in an extended series of teeth is liable toeffect a material alteration of that relative arrangement of the teethand dogs which is necessary for the perfect operation of the escapement.

The primary object of the present invention, therefore, is to produce anescapement of the general type shown in the Fisher patent and embodying'escapement-dogs, which instead of engaging the ratchet-wheel at pointsseparated by an intervening series of teeth will engage adjacent teethof the Wheel to the end that the multiplication of error in the teethwill not affect the relation of the dogs thereto, thus rendering itunnecessary to cut the teeth of the ratchet-wheel with that degree ofaccuracy which has heretofore been indispensable.

Another feature of the Fisher escapement includes a trip-lever disposedfor actuation by a carriage-release key and having a trippin engaging acam-face on the holding-dog to move the latter out of engagement withthe ratchet-Wheel independently of the spacing-dog to provide for therelease of the carriage and its free advance upon the depression of therelease-key. This arrangement While effective is open to certainobjections,

the principal of which is the wear incidental to the sliding contactbetween the trip-pin and the dog.

Another object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a moredurable and positively-operating connection between the trip-lever andthe dog in order to avoid lost motion after continued use of themechanism.

A further object of the invention is to fay tion of the wheel upon abase-plate having means for detachably connecting' it to the carriage.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear during thefollowing deseription of the preferred embodiment thereof illustrated inthe accompanying' drawings and succinctly deiined in the appendedclaims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a portion of a Fishertype-writing machine equipped with my invention, a portion of thecarriage being broken away to expose interior parts. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional view of the subject-matter of Fig. 1, showing theescapement in elevation and indicating certain positions of the parts indotted lines. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of a portion of themachine, showing the arrangement and mounting of the escapement. Fig. 4is a detail perspective view of the holding-dog. Fig. 5 is a similarview of one of the links, and Fig'. 6 is a similar view of thetrip-lever.

Like numerals are employed to designate corresponding parts throughoutthe views.

The escapement and the various associated parts comprehended by thecarriage-feeding mechanism cooperatively related and constituting thesubject-matter of the present invention are capable of generalapplication and of use in connection with various type-writing machinesembodying' a carriage designed to have a step-by-step movement. Inorder, however, to facilitate the disclosure of the invention in thatconnection for which it is particularly designed and is best adapted Ihave shown it associated with a machine of that type now in extensiveuse and known commercially as the Fisher type-writing machine. TheFisher machine is designed particularly for writing in books or uponlettersheets, bills, cards, and other work elements supported in a flatspread-out condition upon a flat platen over which the printing'mechanism is moved.

The machine illustrated involves in its general organization acarriage-supporting frame 1, designed to travel in the direction oflinespacing upon the main tracks or guides (not shown) and provided withparallel front and rear carriage-guides 2 and 3, upon which is mountedto travel in the direction of letterspacing the carriage 4, usuallyprovided with a pendent type-bar-supporting ring.

The carriage 4 is arranged to be drawn to the right or in the directionof letter-spacing by spring-actuated straps or tapes 5 and is providedwith carriage-feeding pinions 6 and 7, which mesh, respectively, withthe front and rear racks 8 and 9, arranged in parallelism with andsecured to or formed upon the front and rear carriage-guides 2 and 3 ofthe machine-frame. The carriage-feeding pinions 6 and7 are mounted on acommon transversely-disposed feed spindle or shaft 10, upon which ismounted at a point within the carriage-easing a ratchet or escapementwheel 11, which constitutes the rack element of the escapement. Sincethe spindle 10 is geared to the fixed racks by means of thefeed-pinions, it follows that the escapement-wheel must rotate when thecarriage is drawn forward. Therefore the advance of the carriage may becontrolled by mechanism coperating with the escapement-wheel andcontrolling' the rotary movement thereof.

In the present embodiment of the invention the means for operating theescapement-wheel includes a pair of escapement-dogsto wit, a holding-dog12 and a retaining-dog 13-ap proximately horizontally disposed andpivoted at their outer or remote ends upon bearing-screws 14, screwedinto the outer ends of a pair of posts 15, extending forwardly from theopposite ends of a base-plate 16, detachably secured, as by screws 17,to the inner face of the rear wall 18 of the carriage. The dogs areformed at their proximate free ends with noses 12 and 13a, the former ofwhich is normally in engagement with a tooth of the escapement-wheel tohold the latter against movement. The other dog is normally disposed, asshown in full lines in Fig. 2, with its nose raised out of engagementwith the wheel, but in position to engage the tooth succeeding the onein engagement with the holding-dog. The dogs 12 and 13 are designed tobe swung simultaneously in opposite directions to effect their alternateengagement with the wheel. They are therefore connected, by means oflinks 19 and 20, with a rocker-arm or vibrator 21 at opposite sides ofits axis of movement. The opposite ends of the links are pivotallyconnected to the dogs and vibrator, respectively, by means ofbearing-screws 22, and the vibrator is mounted to rock upon abearing-screw 23, screwed into the end of a post 24, projecting from thebase-plate 16 at its upper edge and directly above the axis of theeseapement-wheel.

The vibrator 21 is connected at one end, as by a link 25, to an arm 26,extending' laterally from a rock-shaft 27. This rock-shaft is disposedlongitudinally of the carriage within the same and is afforded bearingin the opposite walls thereof, as shown. Adjacent to the opposite endsof this shaft it is provided with additional arms 28, pivotallyconnected to the upper ends of slides 29, provided with pro- IOO IIO

jections 30. The projections 30 of the slides are disposed to be engagedby the swinging key-yokes 31, mounted on the carriage and disposed foractuation by the letter and space keys in the manner explained in theFisher patent hereinbefore identified.

WV hen a key is depressed, one of the keygagement of the spacing-dog iseffected, however, before the disengagement with the holding-dog iscomplete, the result being that the carriage does not advance thedistance of one letter-space during the described movement of the parts.The relation of the dogs to the teeth of the wheel is such that whilethe holding-dog is out of engagement with the wheel the latter ispermitted to move an almost imperceptible distance, which, however, issufficient to move the point of the lately-engaged tooth beyond thepoint of the nose 12, so'thatv when the holding-dog again moves towardthe escapement-wheel it will engage the next succeeding tooth thereofwhen the wheel has advanced one increment or letter-space.

As soon as the key is released the parts will oe restored to theirnormal positions-that is to say, the key yokes will swingback,permitting the slides 29 to drop, the shaft 26 and the vibratori toswing to the full-line position indicated in Fig. 2, and the holding andretaining dogs to move into and out of engagement, respectively, withthe escapement-wheel. During this restoration of the original positionsof the dogs the advance of the carriage one letter-space will beeffected, because by reason of the slight advance of theescapement-wheel, heretofore mentioned, while the holding-dog is out ofengagement therewith the nose of said dog when the latter moves back toits engaging position will engage the rear inclined face of the toothpreviously engaged by it, and the carriage will therefore be permittedto advance until the straight front face of the next succeeding toothcontacts with the end face of the holding-dog.

The prom pt return of the rock-shaft and the connected parts to theirinitial positions upon the release of the key may be insured by theprovision of a spring 32, encircling the shaft and having itsopposite'ends secured to the shaft and a fixed part, respectively, in amanner well understood in the art.

The carriage of course must be free at all times to move back to theleft. is therefore formed with a slot 33, receiving the bearing-screw 22of the holding-dog and accommodating that independent vibratory movementof the dog incidental to the reverse rotation of the escapement-wheel 11during the retraction of the carriage. This movement of the dog isobviously occasioned by the riding of the inclined rear faces of theratchet-teeth along the inclined face of the nose 12 during the backwardrotation of the wheel.

So far as the step-by-step letter-space movement of the carriage isconcerned the construction thus far described is effective and completeand possesses many advantages over the various escapements with-which lam familiar. Inasmuch, however, as it is desired to provide for thecomplete release of the car- The link 19- riage in order to permitunrestricted movement thereof in the direction of letter-spacing I havemade provision for the disengagement of the holding-dog independently ofthe spacing-dog by the depression of the carriagerelease key 34.(illustrated in Fig. 1.) This independent movement of the holding-dog isaccommodated by the slot 33 in the link 19 and is transmitted from therelease key through the medium of a release-lever 35 and a trip-lever36. The release-lever is mounted, as usual, within the carriage adjacentto one end thereof and is connected at its opposite ends to therelease-key and trip-lever, respectively. The trip-lever is disposed atright angles to the release-lever and is fulcrumed adjacent to oneextremity upon a bearingscrew 37, screwed into a post 38, projectinghorizontally from the base-plate 16 adjacent to but above the mountingof the holding-dog. It will thus be seen that the trip-lever in additionto the escapement-dogs and vibrator is mounted upon the base-plate forremoval therewith. The trip-lever is operatively connected to theholding-dog in a manner to swing the latter out of engagement with theescapement-wheel upon the depression of the release-key, and while thecharacter of this connection may be varied within wide limits I preferto form the lever and holding-dog with cooperating shoulders 39 and 40,disposed radially with respect to the axes of these y elements. Thischaracter of connection permits the holding-dog to operate independentlyof the trip-lever under normal conditions, but effects an operativeconnection between the parts to release the carriage whenever thetrip-lever is swung up by the depression of the release-key. Themovement of the triplever toward its normal position is limited by astop 41, and such movement is facilitated by a spiral spring 42,encircling the post 38 and having one end bearing against th'eadjacentpost 15 and its opposite end in engagement with the'upper side of thetrip-lever.

By reason of the character of the connections between the holding-dogand the link and trip-lever, respectively, neither of the lOO IIO

springs 32 nor 42 exert'any influence upon the holding-dog, and as it isundesirable to depend upon the force of gravityfor the cngagement of thedog with the escapementwheel the' former is yieldingly urged toward thewheel by a light spiral spring 43, secured at one end to the dog and atthe opposite end to a stud 44, projecting from the base-plate.v

Brieiy, the operation of the device is as follows: The carriage 4, whichis under tension, is held against'movement in the direction ofletter-spacing by the engagement of the holding-dog 12 with a tooth ofthe escapementwheel 11. Upon the depression of one of the IIS ISO

This movement of the shaft is transmitted to the vibrator 2l through themedium of the link 25, and the escapement-dog's are simultaneously swungin opposite directions by reason of their link connection with thevibrator at opposite sides of its axis. This movement of the dogseffects the disengagement of the holding-dog from the escapement-wheeland the engagement of the spacing-dog therewith and permits slightadvance movement of the escapement-wheel 30 to advance the point of thetooth lately engaged slightly beyond the nose of the holding-dog. Uponthe release of the key the several parts will return to their initialpositions, the spacing-dog moving out of engagement with theescapement-wheel to release the same and thus permit the advance of thecarriage the distance of one letter-space. As the spacing-dog moves outof engagement with the wheel the nose of the holding-dog moves intoengagement with the inclined rear face of the tooth lately engaged by itand arrests the carriage at the proper time by engaging' the straightfront face of the next succeeding tooth of the wheel. Thus the carriageis advanced one letter-space upon each depression of a hey, and uponreaching the end of the line the free retraction of the carriage ispermitted by reason of the pawl-and ratchet relation of the holding-dogand escapementwheel. If, however, it is desired to release the carriagefor free advance movement-ms, for instance, in shifting the carriagefrom one column to another of a tabulation-the holding-dog is swung outof engagement with the ratchet-wheel independently of the spacingdog bydepressing the release-key 34C, and thus eifecting the swinging of therelease-lever 35 and the vibration of the trip-lever 36 in an obviousmanner.

It is thought that from the foregoing' description the construction,operation, and many advantages of the invention will be clearlyunderstood; but while the illustrated embodiment of said inventionappears at this time to be preferable I desire to reserve the right toeffect such changes, modifications, and variations of the illustratedstructure as may come fairly within the scope of the protection prayed.

l/Vhat I claim is- 1. An escapement including a rack under tension, apair of dogs swung at their outer ends from independent axes and havingtheir proximate ends disposed to engage the rack, and a vibratorconnected to said dogs at points intermediate of their ends.

2. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swung attheir outer ends from independent axes and having their proximate endsdisposed to engage the rack, and a vibrator connected to said dogs atpoints intermediate of their ends, said connection permittingindependent movement of one of the dogs.

3. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swung attheir outer ends from independent axes and having their proximate endsdisposed to engage the rack, a vibrator connected to said dogs at pointsintermediate of their ends, said connection permitting independentmovement of one of the dogs, and means independent of the vibrator forimparting such independent movement to said dog.

4L. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swungat their outer ends from independent axes and having their proximateends disposed to engage the rack, a vibrator connected to said dogs atpoints intermediate of their ends, said connection permittingindependent movementy of one of the dogs7 and an escapement-leveroperatively related to the outer end of said independentlymovable dog tomove the same out of engagement with the rack.

5. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swung'at their outer ends from independent axes and having their proximateends disposed to engage the rack, a vibrator connected to said dogs atpoints intermediate of their ends, said connection permittingindependent movement of one of said dogs, and an escapement -leveroperatively connected to the outer end of said independently-movable dogto move the same out of engagement with the rack, the connection betweenthe lever and the dog including abutting shoulders disposed tangentialto the axes of said elements.

6. An escapement including' a rack under tension, a holding-dog and aspacing-dog swung from independent axes at or adjacent to their outerlends and having their proximate ends disposed for engagement with therack, a spring' for urging the holding-dog into engagement with therack, a vibrator having independent connection with the dogsintermediate of their ends, the connection between the vibrator and theholding-dog permitting the latter to be moved out of engagement with therack by the vibrator or independently thereof, and means for impartingsuch independent movement to the holding-dog in opposition to itsspring.

7. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swung attheir outer ends from independent axes and having their proximate endsdisposed to engage the rack, and a vibrator having a separate connectionwith each dog at a point intermediate of the ends thereof.

8. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair 'of dogs swungat their outer ends from independent axes and having' their proximateends disposed to engage the rack, and a vibrator having permanent butiiexible connection with both dogs at points intermediate of their ends.

9. An escapement including a rack under IOO IIO

tension, a pair of dogs sWung at their outer ends from independent axesand having their proximate ends disposed to engage the rack, a vibrator,and an operative connection between the opposite ends of the vibratorand the dogs at points intermediate of the ends of the latter.

10. An escapement comprising a rack under tension, spacing and holdingdogs swung from independent axes at their outer ends and having theirproximate ends disposed for engagement With adjacent rack-teeth, and avibrator having link connection with the dogs.

11. In a type-Writing machine, the combination with a movable carriage,of a rack, a supporting-plate detachably mounted on the carriage,escapementdogs independently mounted on the plate and engaging the rackto control the advance of the carriage, a vibrator arranged to operatethe dogs, and a trip-lever arranged to disengage one of the dogs fromthe rack, the vibrator and trip-lever being also mounted on thesupportingplate and detachable from the carriage therewith.

l2. An escapement including a rack under tension, a pair of dogs swungat their outer ends from independent xed axes and having their proximateends disposed to engage the rack, and a vibrator having a fixed axis andhaving also, separate, operative connection at pposite sides of itsaxis, With the respective ogs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aiixedmy signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

JOHN ASBURY SMITH. Witnesses:

A. R. WARNER, J. A. ZIEGLER.

